Bell found for Tanzania

Following a plight highlighted in the Kildare Nationalist and on the Diary recently, a bell has been secured locally for a church in Tanzania.

The church was built five years ago in the town of Arumeru, but still didn't have a bell to call parishioners to worship.

They wanted the real thing, not an electronic unit, both because of tradition and the fact that electrical services may not always be reliable.

Well, the church will have a bell pealing out its message in the new year, thanks to Miriam McDonnell of Curragh Lodge Nursing Home, who just happened to have one lying around, as you do ...



“Well, it was quite a coincidence,” says Miriam. “We had built a new oratory in the nursing home, and a friend of mine who was doing some work on a former monastery came across the bell which was no longer needed. He gave it to me for the oratory, but when I heard it I knew it was too loud for our requirements.”

Then she read about the need in Arumeru, and made contact with Miontini Ako, who was looking after the appeal for the bell.

"It is small, but a great loud little bell which can make plenty of sound," says Miontini. "It is just what we needed."

Meantime, Miontini wants to express his gratitude to all who have recently donated a wide range of items for a container of aid which he’s organising for Fr Dan Noud’s school and clinic projects in Nangwa and Mogitu. Fr Dan is a Pallotine missionary who is from Brownstown and has spent most of his life working in very harsh conditions in Tanzania.

"We're still looking for some old windows. They don't have to be perfect, just useable, to keep the dust out. Maybe somebody, a builder perhaps, has some old ones taken from a job where he replaced them?"

If you can help in this regard, Contact Miontini at 085 1182776 or Michael McLoughlin at 086 709872. The container will be loading soon for shipment.

Pictured is Nico Sawe from Arumeru, receiving a church bell for the new church there, from Miriam McDonnell.